Donald Trump personally dictated the misleading statement about Trump Jr's Russian meeting
White House staff had tried to release a statement before the media did.
It has emerged that Donald Trump personally dictated the statement by his eldest son which revealed the details of a meeting between Trump Jr and a Russian lawyer.
The statement read that the meeting, which took place inside Trump Tower in New York, had been used to discuss the adoption of Russian children, but it emerged that the gathering had been initially planned as a way of finding damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
The Trump team have always denied any form of collusion with Russia in order to win the 2016 election.
The Washington Post reported that while travelling back from the G20 summit in Germany last month, advisers had planned for an open and truthful release of information before the meeting was released in the press.
But mid-flight, the plans changed.
President Trump decided to instead dictate a statement to be released to the media. That statement later proved to be misleading.
But the intervention worried officials who said that the statement could leave the president vulnerable to accusations of a cover-up.
A senior adviser said: "Now someone can claim he's the one who attempted to mislead. Somebody can argue the president is saying he doesn't want you to say the whole truth."
Trump's efforts to undercut the growing list of Russian investigations have come under scrutiny already after he fired the FBI director James Comey.
Russian Investigations
The Department of Justice, now guided by a special counsel in the shape of former FBI director Robert Mueller, is looking into the ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and any possible cover-up.
Meanwhile, there are numerous committees on Capitol Hill that have been looking into possible Russian influences on the election.
This includes the Senate Intelligence Committee who, under their purview, have taken part in both open and closed testimonial from James Comey, the former boss of the FBI.
Two other congressional groups, the Senate Judiciary Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, are looking into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, as well as the firing of Comey.
Despite the departure of Comey, who believes that he was fired because of the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, the bureau is continuing its process.
The emails that Donald Trump Jr released that detailed his meeting with a Russian lawyer is the latest twist that the investigating committees are keen to delve into.
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